1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a metal part for an electrical connecting device for connecting the stripped end of a conductor, with a base leg, a contact leg which is located essentially perpendicular thereto, and with at least one side wall, the contact leg together with a clamping leg of a clamping spring forming a spring force clamp terminal to an electrical conductor which is to be connected. Moreover the invention relates to a method for producing this metal part, and a connecting device and an electrical terminal for connection of a stripped end of a conductor, with a clamping spring which acts as a compression spring on the end of the conductor and which has one clamping leg and one seating leg, and with one metal part.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical terminals are known in a host of embodiments. The terminals can be made for connection of an electrical conductor to a circuit board as a so-called printed terminal or for connection to another conductor as a terminal block. Clamping springs are both loop-shaped clamping springs, so-called tension spring terminals, and also U-shaped or V-shaped clamping springs into which rigid conductors or conductors which are provided with a wire end ferrule can be inserted directly, i.e., without the clamping site having to be opened beforehand with a tool. In the known loop-shaped tension springs, according to their name, the conductor which is to be connected is pulled by the clamping leg against a busbar. In contrast, for U-shaped or V-shaped clamping springs the conductor which is to be connected is pressed against the busbar or a region of the metal part by the clamping leg of the clamping spring which acts as a compression spring.
Electrical terminals with a clamping spring which acts as a compression spring in addition to a housing which generally are made of plastic have at least one connecting device which is held and located within the housing and which consists of a clamping spring and a metal part. The U-shaped or V-shaped clamping spring has one clamping leg and one seating leg, the clamping leg together with one region of the metal part forming a spring force clamp terminal for the stripped electrical conductor which is to be connected and which has been inserted into the electrical terminal.
The metal part is used, first of all, for transmission of a current between the contact site with the electrical conductor and a second contact site which can be a contact site to a circuit board or also a contact site to a second conductor. In the latter case the metal part is thus used to transmit a current from a first electrical conductor which is connected to a first spring force clamp terminal to a second conductor which is connected to a second spring force clamp terminal. But in addition, the metal part is generally also used to hold the clamping spring and especially for lateral guidance of the inserted conductor, for which the metal part in addition to the base leg and the contact leg has at least one side wall which runs essentially perpendicular thereto and which prevents the stripped end of the conductor from being forced out of the region of the clamping site.
An electrical terminal with the initially described metal part is known, for example, from German Patent Application DE 10 2008 039 232 A1. The metal part has a relatively large-area side wall from which one contact leg, one base leg and one seating leg are bent away to three different sides of the side wall. The contact leg together with the clamping leg of the clamping spring forms the spring force clamp terminal for an electrical conductor which is to be connected. The seating leg of the clamping spring adjoins the seating leg of the metal part opposite the contact leg, as a result of which the clamping spring is held by the metal part. Additional holding and fixing of the clamping spring take place by means of a pin which has been formed in the housing. The current is transmitted from the conductor which has been inserted at the contact site to a second contact site via the base leg which runs perpendicular to the contact leg.
German Utility Model DE 20 2005 005 369 U1, likewise, discloses an electrical terminal which has at least one connecting device which formed of a clamping spring and a metal part. The metal part is made as a channel-like, U-shaped trough with a base leg and two longitudinal legs, one end of the longitudinal leg being bent away such that the end runs perpendicular to the two longitudinal legs and to the base leg. The end which has been bent away in this way forms the contact leg which together with the clamping leg of the clamping spring forms the spring force clamp terminal for the electrical conductor device which is to be connected.
A similar metal part is also known from German Utility Model DE 20 2007 012 429 U1. Here, the metal part also has a base leg and two longitudinal legs which are bent perpendicularly away from it, also here the contact leg being formed by the bent end of one longitudinal leg. Moreover in this metal part a reinforced bottom section is provided by a fold section being folded from one of the two longitudinal legs and being located opposite on the bottom of the base leg.
It is common to the known metal parts that they are punched out of a flat metal strip and then are brought into their finished form by bending down individual sections. Here, the disadvantage is that they require increased material use which is not determined solely by the required current carrying capacity.